Tell Me a Secret (The Story Series Book 4) by Tamara Lush

there, the one in the yellow sarong? I think she’s sitting just over my left shoulder?”
    He shifted and glanced with a raised eyebrow. “The blonde? What about her?”
    “When she walked by, she stared at you as if you were a prime cut of London broil.”
    He laughed and shrugged. “Whatever.”
    I laughed, too. I’d noticed in recent months how Colin hadn’t kept up his usual pace of women. He’d still dated some, but not as much as before, it seemed. I’d chalked it up to Caleb’s disappearance and considered asking him about his changed dating habits, but we were having such an easy moment together I didn’t want the sadness to settle in the air once again.
    “So back to the snake. I hate reptiles, but please tell me you saved him. I hate hearing about animals being killed,” I said.
    Colin put his hand on my forearm. “Yes. The snake. I made money off the snake. Let me tell you how.”
    He returned to the story, which ended up making me laugh hard.
    As I giggled about his characterization of the serpent—“fat, like a slug, but black and ten inches”—we locked eyes and I suddenly recalled the filthy ménage dream I’d had about him. I blinked, rapidly, feeling my face get hot.
    “You okay? Something in your eye?” he asked.
    I turned to my drink and rattled the ice in my glass. A little smile crept on my face. “I’m good. Allergies, I think.”
    Never mind I hadn’t experienced allergies in my life, not in Miami and not in Orlando. I glanced up to see him staring at me, his mouth quirked.
    “So back to the snake. I was with the governor…” I zoned out during the rest of his sentence, thinking about his searching, magnetic eyes that made me somehow feel like I was the only woman in Miami.
    How weird.
    I drank and snuck glances at his face. The only thing substantially different between the two brothers were Colin’s eyes, I noted. They were a blazing, icy blue. I kept drinking, grateful he was keeping the conversation going, that we were talking about something other than Caleb and family and depression. Grateful he was smart enough to know to make me laugh so I wouldn’t weep. Grateful he had such beautiful eyes.
    I couldn’t stop looking at them. I stared a little harder and saw they were flecked with black around the ring.
    “Business talk must bore you. I’m sorry to ramble,” he said.
    “No. Don’t apologize. I’m actually interested. Your business is fascinating. You and your family have shaped the state. Remade it. Florida would be very different without you.”
    “You could say that.” Was the grin one of triumph? I couldn’t decipher it.
    The conversation flowed easily into a second drink, and I forced myself to look elsewhere on his face. Like his nose, which was a little big. Like Caleb’s. And his mouth, which was full and…sensual?
    Strange, I’d never noticed that before. He licked his bottom lip, and I felt a frisson of arousal amidst the murkiness in my gut. Must be the gin. I hadn’t eaten, so maybe it was hunger and not arousal. I looked around the bar for a menu and didn’t find one.
    “Why did you want to stay in the family business?” I stood near my chair, now a little unsteady on my feet because of the liquor. I was genuinely curious about Colin. I’d never really asked about his life in the years I’d known him. “You could have taken your skills in so many different directions. Stockbroker, financial analyst, lawyer…”
    He shrugged. “Caleb talked me into it and I felt the obligation of family.”
    That was all he needed to say to get me to stop asking questions. We drank in silence, and then he piped up.
    “And you? Why did you want to be a bookseller? Wait, I know. You told me once. Because you love to read and because of the closing of the store from your childhood in Lakeland.”
    “You remember!” I pointed in his direction, thrilled. “I’m shocked. I didn’t think you were listening when I told you.”
    “I always listen to you,